it's, you know, badly written and very few people watch it. [laughter] no, i mean -- i look forward to your letter. i'm a fan of the show. come on! it was a joke! how dare you! geoff: you just ruined the moment, man. craig: did i? sorry. you know what i think is interesting? how low they play the music so you can hardly hear it. is it still there? what about if it really went loud? [laughter] ♪ and i told you, geoff, that i love you! geoff: what did you say, craig? craig: nothing. it doesn't matter. good night, everyone. welcome se my lcret ,,,,,,,,

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f0 you're watching cbs 5 eyewitness news in high definition. the thick black smoke could be seen for miles. what firefighters are afraid of now that the flames are out. good evening. i'm elizabeth cook. >> and i'm ken bastida. an east bay business is in ruins tonight after a fire so intense, even firefighters had to back off. that fire sent up a giant plume of black smoke. a viewer sent us these photos of the flames shooting through the roof of c&h enterprises in fremont. now, they were taken from a

business just across the way on boggs terrace. cbs 5 reporter mark sayre is there, and the firefight is still going on. mark? >> reporter: and ken, investigators plan to return here in the morning to try to pinpoint the exact cause of this fire, which could be seen throughout fremont. tonight, the fire is still smoldering c&h enterprises building. fire officials say a grinding operation involving metal shavings was underway at the time the fire broke out. employees ran for safety. >> jay came running into the office. i could see the smoke billowing over the roof to the front, and he said, call 911, we have a fire! and it just started getting worse after that. >> did everyone get out? >> everyone got out and everybody is safe. >> reporter: the first 911 calls came in around 1:45 this afternoon and the fire quickly went to three alarms.

since this is a commercial building with chemicals on sight, the fremont fire department said the potential for danger is very real and entered a shelter in place warning for the area. >> we had gases and combustion from machine products and such, and so we always keep that in consideration. >> reporter: but while everybody is safe, fremont resident jack willard says he is sad to think of what the fire means for the employees who work here. >> i really feel bad for the people who are going to be losing their jobs over this, you know, at christmas time. it's just really a shame. >> reporter: at this point, fire investigators have actually been unable to enter this building because they're concerned about the structural integrity and the possibility of a collapse. reporting live in fremont, i'm mark sayre, cbs 5. a san francisco police sergeant is parked at a desk for now, after boasting about a

dangerous off-duty joyride. in a facebook post, sergeant carl t. bragged that he and his friends were drunk as they blasted through the broadway tunnel at 100 miles an hour in a lamborghini. the sergeant later said he was kidding but he's been assigned to administrative duty while internal affairs sort it out. the chief promises swift and severe discipline if it turns out to be true. after a month on the run, software pioneer john mcafee is back in the u.s. and he now admits to playing the crazy card to escape central america. kiet do tells us mcafee's problems aren't necessarily over just yet. >> reporter: john mcafee is now on u.s. soil. and this ring master promises not to stop talking. >> i am going to speak out big- time. >> reporter: john mcafee was

the first one off the plane from guatemala. by morning, throngs of media and admirers gathered outside his south beach hotel. >> i want to make this clear for the 100th time. i had absolutely nothing to do with the murder in belize. >> reporter: on november 11, his neighbor was found shot and dead at his home in belize. authorities in belize want to question mcafee as a person of interest but he refuses to turn himself in, saying current police officers will jail or kill him. >> when people are shot in belize during robberies constantly. the fact that he is my neighbor is why this is an issue. >> reporter: john mcafee illegally entered guatemala last week. he admits to faking two heart attacks while there, apparently to speed up his deportation. >> unfortunately, i guess the pressure gave me a heart attack, so i had one. >> reporter: john mcafee, whose

software fortune was once estimated at $100 million says he abandoned everything in belize and now is broke. he faces possible tax evasion. when it comes to traffic stops, oakland police just don't make them like they used to. in fact, the numbers are down by 75% from just a few years ago. officers have made fewer than 16,000 stops this year, down from 68,000 back in 2009. police point to layoffs and staffing shortages that put low priority items on the back burner. some officers also complain that the paperwork process is complicated and time-consuming. bay area shoppers got some unusual protection today. special escorts at a bart station. cbs reporter explains why some people are asking, what's the point? >> reporter: tis the season for stealing.

tanto knows first hand. >> i was ambushed by two men. they pointed a gun at me, took my stuff and pistol whipped me in the face. >> reporter: it's been happening more frequently at bart stations, especially to riders saddled with shopping bags. >> they're noticing that you're not watching them, so they're going to take that opportunity to take that property from you. >> reporter: police say the most common crime on bart is cell phone thefts. >> we want you to be prepared and be ready. >> reporter: to bart police, oakland police and community volunteers spent four hours here at bart, escorting drivers to their cars and educating them about how not to become a victim. >> to do it once is kind of a waste of time. if you're going to rob someone, you just wait until the police leave. >> is it effective to do it over one day? >> we wish we could do it longer. unfortunately, we don't have

the resources to sustain that. >> reporter: so authorities say they're hoping people help themselves, teaching them to stop the texting and watch their surroundings. >> we can change and reduce one victim, if we can, that's a success. that's what we're here to do tonight. >> reporter: a safety campaign with staying power. christin ayers, cbs 5. blueshield of california wants to raise rates once again, according to the la times. some individuals would see their raises go up by as much as 20%. the increases would affect 300,000 customers. it calls for an average rate increase of about 12%. the new fees would take effect in march. some consumer advocates say blueshield should use some of the money in its $4 billion reserve to keep rates down. there's a new name being floated to replace hillary clinton as secretary of state. massachusetts senator john cary. it comes after susan rice

abruptly withdrew. >> reporter: republicans challenged rice's explanation of the september 11 attack in benghazi, libya, that killed ambassador chris stevens and three others. republicans charged that the administration already knew that it was a planned terrorist attack. >> it is clear that the information that she gave the american people was incorrect. >> reporter: in november, rice testified behind closed doors on capitol hill but her critics, like senator lindsey graham, were unrelenting. >> bottom line, i'm more disturbed now than i was before that the explanation about how four americans died in benghazi by ambassador rice, i think does not do justice to the reality at the time, and in hindsight, clearly was completely wrong. >> reporter: last month, the president defended rice with a rare flash of public anger. >> when they go after the u.n.

ambassador, apparently because they think she's an easy target, then they've got a problem with me. >> reporter: but today, in a phone conversation with the president, rice bowed out. >> i didn't want to see a confirmation process that was very prolonged, very politicized, very distracting, and very disruptive. >> reporter: president obama accepted her withdrawal and said her decision demonstrates the strength of her character and an admirable commitment to rise above the politics of the moment to put our national interests first. just as the highest tides of the year reached the bay area today, the so-called king tides swallowed up beaches all along the shoreline. in some spots, the water rushed right into town. the tides hit their peak around midmorning. in some areas, water rose by just a couple inches. in other areas, it was up by

several feet. we found a business scrambling to stack sand bags. >> it's been coming in incredibly fast. >> it's amazing. it's coming up really, really high in amazing. bill hudson sent us this video. >> even then, water levels were as high as the bumpers of several suv's. paul deanno, king tides, because not only did we have the lunar tides but we're actually closer to the sun and moon right now. it's pretty cold already. we have a frost advisory in effect. lots of rain moving back in. i'll have that coming up too. plus, arrests following the death of singer jenny rivera. why the new movie "the hobbit" is making some sick to,,

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it's time to free ourselves from the smell and harshness of bleach. and free ourselves from worrying about the ones we love. new lysol power & free has more cleaning power than bleach. how? the secret is the hydrogen peroxide formula. it attacks tough stains and kills 99.9% of germs. new lysol power & free. powerful cleaning that's family friendly. another step forward in our mission for health. trip home to southern california. her remains arri f0 mexican-american singing star jenni rivera has made her final trip home to southern california. her remains arrived by private plane about 90 minutes ago. rivera and six others died on sunday when their small jet crashed near monterey, mexico. meantime, we've learned that two police officers have been

arrested for allegedly looting the crash site. items stolen from the site were allegedly found at the officers' homes. it may be the single most common complaint in the world of television, that commercials are just too darn loud. you know what we're talking about. starting today, you're going to get some relief. >> that's what it's called. the c.a.l.m. act, which limits the volume of tv commercials. it went into effect today. it's the result of a four-year effort by palo alto congresswoman anna eshoo and it requires broadcasters to keep the volume of commercials at the same level of the shows they're interrupting. some commercials may still be too loud, and if they are, you can file a complaint. the link is on cbssf.com. "the hobbit" opens tonight at midnight. it's one of the hottest movies of the year. >> but you'll need to have a strong stomach so watch part of

the it. -- part of it. sharon chin explains why. >> reporter: at least a few hundred people have already arrived here at the theater for the 12:00 showing. yes, some people say it could make you a little disoriented. some people who have already seen "the hobbit" in new zealand report an unexpected occurrence. motion sickness. but it wasn't even a consideration for this woman. >> i just want to see the movie. >> so why the potential for nausea? the lord of rings trilogy is the first film to use 3-d technology. it has 48 frames per second, double the standard we've been

used to for 85 used, making images for intense than ever. it's like going from vinyl to cd. >> for certain people who are motion sensitive, it's going to be very crisp. >> reporter: but he says don't expect it to replace the current, more comfortable viewing standard. >> it contains that quality that films have that are a little dream-like. >> i didn't really want to camp out and spend a lot of money on a movie that would make me potentially sick. >> i'd really like to see if this is going to progress the movie industry forward into making a different kind of film or if it's just going to be another gimmick. >> reporter: warner bros. says it has not encountered any problems with audiences having motion sickness. it says they'll get to be part

of a groundbreaking advancement in the movie going experience. you can still go for the imax, the straight 3-d or the 2d. all of them are apparently very popular, because here at amc theaters, they've already sold more than 900 tickets for the showing that began at 12:01. >> thank you. there is a big light show going on in the sky right now. the geminid meteor shower, these are live pictures from nasa. you have to look for a long time to actually see one, so we did some of the work for you. here are some of the shooting stars we saw earlier. you should be able to see the meteor shower for a couple more hours. there's one. you don't even need a telescope. just go outside and look up. they should be at their peak shortly after midnight. >> very bright in the sky.

mother nature is cooperating. we don't have the cloud cover. we have mainly clear skies outside. why? we can look outside. maybe we'll see a meteor in the background. no. you have to go outside and look for yourself. we had a beautiful shot there. the sun setting behind the mountains. this is the most beautiful place in the country. and mother nature painted an awesome picture right around sunset. tonight, with clear skies, it's going to be cold. set out those trash bins and you'll be down around freezing. fremont, 35. napa, 32. nothing on hi-def doppler yet. that will change come tomorrow. there's a big pattern change coming. you can see a big dip in the jet stream. it kind of looks like a big u, coming down and all the way back up the west coast. that's the first of many troughs of low pressure that

will dig down in the west coast. there are a lot of these. what's going to happen is it's going to keep the atmosphere unstable. that means a chance of rain. it's also, considering the source, coming from alaska, it's going to be chilly. it will be likely with us all the way through christmas. it's keeping us above normal precipitation-wise, up and down the california coastline. plan on being wet more often than not. a couple showers tomorrow. not that much, though. it will be chilly. highs tomorrow, only in the low 50's. san jose, 52. only 52 tomorrow for san francisco. petaluma, only 48. a little bit of a break on saturday, not much sunshine. here comes more showers sunday through tuesday. another break coming up on wednesday. that's your forecast. coming up, the gift card glitch at one major department

store that's leavi,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

cb explains w gift cards, they are easy to give and great to get. with one little exception. >> julie watts explains why one major retailer is getting a lot of complaints. >> reporter: they were a christmas gift from his mom. but when ed souza tried to spend his macy's gift card yesterday... >> she said there's a zero balance on this card. i said, there can't be. i haven't used it yet. >> reporter: his second card was no good either. his mother purchased them at a safeway and ed says they've been in a drawer for over a year. >> the gift card representative said these cards were already used. i'm like, where? she said one of the places was online. and i said, i don't shop from macy's online. >> reporter: he's not the only one complaining. we found similar complaints from other macy's gift cardholders who said they too just learned their $100 gift cards were worthless. two years ago a batch of best

buy gift cards turned out to have zero balances as well. >> it's kind of embarrassing when it doesn't work and you hand it out. people probably don't know what to think. >> reporter: scammers were scratching off the pin code and registering the card so they could use the money before they purchased it. souza believes that's what happened to him. tonight, macy's confirms it did have a problem with tampered cards and it's possible these are part of the leftover stock. it's also possible there's a new round of tampering. >> it's like tough luck. >> reporter: not necessarily. macy's tells us if your gift card is no good, simply call the number on the back of the card and macy's will replace it. but the moral of the story is always check the back of the card before you purchase it to make sure the activation number is not exposed. and if you're the one gifting

the card, attach the receipt. it can be used as evidence in case the card doesn't work. >> good advice. check those gift cards. baseball's biggest free agent? a little gift? >> that's right. l.a. teams spent 275 million this week. baseball's biggest free agent is coming to california, not to a team near you. and what tom brady did to ,,,,,,

the bank of the west sports report is next, on cbs 5. the 49ers top-ranked

defense will keep opposing coaching up at night. and apparently even tom brady needs extra time to prepare. tom brady said something interesting this week, that he started studying the 49er defense actually in november. how many guys can actually do that? >> not many. very interesting. very complimentary also. the greatness of tom brady is well-documented. we're excited to compete against him. we are. we're up to the challenge. >> sunday night's showdown. the angels couldn't beat the a's in the american league west. so today, they added another slugger. the angels have signed josh hamilton to a reported $125 million deal. he had 43 home runs. the projected angels lineup will feature four players who hit 30 or more home runs last year. meanwhile, back to the future for the giants. andres torres is coming home. he agreed to a $2 million deal,

one year. he likely will serve as the giants' fourth outfielder. high school basketball. a matchup of highly rated teams. here's aaron gordon. 14-6 early. game would go into overtime. kentucky commits aaron harrison. 54-53. last chance. scoring with the basketball. it's up. it is... no good. you know, they covered him. they triple-teamed that guy and he only had 14 points in a nationally televised game. 56-53 in ot is the final. jim harbaugh's travel plans kick off tonight's top 5. >> have you ever done the freedom trail in boston? if you are completely bored at 2 a.m. in the morning on saturday night, it's a good thing for you to do, take your mind off the game a little bit. >> we'll be staying in

providence. >> well, forget that. >> any tips for providence? >> no, i do not. can't help you with that. >> at no. 4, carmelo anthony had 32 points in four minutes and the knicks beat the lakers. no. 3, eagles turned it over five times. that's a touchdown. the bengals, 34-14. no. 2, a whole new meaning to the term locking helmets. a little too close for comfort. but everything is okay. and no. 1, watch how much morningside quarterback joel nixon has to run. they did not call this clip right here. ridiculous. anyway, touchdown! but marion won the game 30-27 in overtime. but, again, that arms race in southern california, you know, there's two things you can't buy, ken. love and a world ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,